1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to video processing, and specifically, to the insertion of visual elements into video.
2. Background Art
Television viewers and distributors are increasingly interested in receiving or sending on-board information with a standard video feed. To meet these needs, systems exist that insert visual elements, such as images, advertisements, text and video, into broadcast video such that the inserted visual elements appear integrated with the video. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 to Rosser et al., incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. In an example, a graphic highlighting a hockey puck may be inserted into a hockey game video. While some viewers might appreciate the increased ease of following the puck, other viewers might prefer viewing unaltered video or viewing a different type of graphic highlighted puck.
Other systems exist that allow a user to enable display of certain types of visual elements within broadcast video, but the visual element may not appear integrated with the video. For example, picture-in-picture enables a user to insert a video from a first channel into a video from a second channel. However, the inserted video from the first channel generally appears at a fixed position and may not appear integrated with the video from the second channel.
Systems and methods are needed that enable a user to control insertion of visual elements that are integrated to appear part of the video.
In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical or functionally similar elements.